'muppets' on Serious Eats

If you're not tired of celebrating holidays yet, here's another one for ya: National Spaghetti Day. Yup, that's today! So pull out your fork, twirl some noodles, and watch the Swedish Chef squibblydoo around the kitchen with his pile of pasta—that's apparently alive and able to strangle. (Hopefully your spaghetti experience is less violent.) The video and ten spaghetti recipes, after the jump.... More

Kevin Gillespie and Yukon Cornelius, separated at birth? [Photograph: totallylookslike.com] Tonight at 10 p.m. ET, come join us as we watch the tenth episode of Top Chef Las Vegas where cheftestants (including Kevin, or should we say Yukon?) make TV dinners inspired by shows like Gilligan's Island and The Sopranos. Also, Padma will have to step aside as the token hot chick because Natalie Portman is swinging by. "I love food, I love eating, I'm pretty adventurous with different foods and cuisines, the one thing is..." (Ominous music plays.) Um, she's vegan. (Louder ominous music plays.) Watch a clip, after the jump.... More

"You know, people who don't drink Wilkins Coffee just blow up sometimes!" How do you grab people's attention with only ten seconds to advertise your product? Puppets and violence! Muppet Wiki has the story behind these commercials made by Jim Henson from 1957 to 1961 featuring two puppets named Wilkins and Wontkins. Wilkins (who kind of resembles a proto-version of Kermit the Frog) pushes the importance of drinking Wilkins Coffee by inflicting various kinds of physical pain— shooting, clubbing, near-beheading, etc.—on the anti-Wilkins Coffee Wontkins. Considering how quickly these commercials fly by, they're strangely dark and funny at the same time. Hopefully they wont result in nightmares of being attacked by Muppets. Watch the video after the jump.... More

According to Mental Floss, the genesis story behind the bushy eyebrowed muppet with his endearing Swedish-gibberish accent ("Yom-yom-yommm, mit de chocolad!") and wooden spatulas: Swedish Chef Lars “Kuprik” Bäckman claims he was the inspiration for the Swedish Chef. He was on Good Morning America, he says, and caught Jim Henson’s eye. Henson supposedly bought the rights to the Good Morning America recording and created the Swedish Chef (who DOES have a real name, but it’s not understandable). One of the Muppet writers, Jerry Juhl, says that in all of the years of working with Jim Henson on the Swedish Chef, he never heard that the character was based on a real person. Every year during the Muppets Christmas reruns time,... More